Magical Boy -「TSUBASA VS Turtle」
by Emerald Sonata
Summary: Tsukasa Basara is in a pinch. There's a science test coming up and he only has one day to prepare for it. If things aren't already bad enough, the Magical AI, Celestia, who constantly forces him to become a Magical Girl to save the world always makes his life go down hill. Today, he's going to encounter an obstacle that's even bigger than his own science test - a rampaging Turtle.
1. PART 1

**Inspired by the **_**'Sailor Moon'**_** anime series.**

* * *

**MAGICAL BOY  
****「魔法少年」**

**{=TSUBASA=VS=Turtle=}**

_{By: Emerald Sonata}_

* * *

**[~PART 1~]**

"_Thermal conduction: a process where material like metal can absorb heat via kinetic energy and movements in its molecular structure. Silver is the best heat conductor, and often used in the real world to regulate and ventilate heat. There is a phenomena where if a metal were to be exposed to both extreme heat and extreme cool temperatures in rapid succession, it will break down its overall make-up and even shatter at the slightest touch_…Gaaaah, this is just one of the definitions I need to remember – how the heck am I expected to remember all 300 of them?!"

"If you would stop walking while reading at the same time, that would be the first best plan of action. Wouldn't you agree?"

"Shut up."

In the center of Tokyo, Japan, within the heart of a particular commercial district, walked a certain high school boy. His black hair was long past his shoulders and was completely unkempt. The set of uniform consisting of a white-dress shirt with a crest over the heart, black tie, and sand-colored pants have been worn since the beginning of the day – yet it did not have a single crease or wrinkle to it, as if still fresh. The boy's sharp emerald eyes scanned from left to right, soaking up as much information from a large text book he had open in his hand while walking on.

He was followed by a voice, one that belonged to a lady of high stature and a strong sense of maturity if not justice. However, there was no one around the boy that matched the characteristics of the voice – let alone there being anyone following him in the first place.

"In all honesty, Tsukasa, there is no way you can cram three weeks' worth of information in a single night. As you would say yourself, you'll definitely 'flunk' this science test whether you like it or not. So why don't you put away the books and be on the look out for _them_…_they_ could attack any second, you know?"

"Get – off – my – back! You have absolutely no idea what kind of crisis I'm going through right now! My grades are next to rock-bottom – only 5% higher than the douchebag in my class who doesn't even study or hand his homework at all, I might add – and if I were to fall hard on this stupid test, I might get a suspension from school!"

Tsukasa came to a short halt before a crosswalk, which was filled with cars at the time. Once the green light came on, he continued only right after hastily reading another super long definition.

"Besides, I was busy for the last two weeks with my part-time jobs and I planned I could prepare for the exam that was supposed to be for next week! It's that jerk of a teacher's fault, Yukimoto-sensei! He suddenly moved next week's examination to tomorrow – just so he could casually go off on his trip to the Bermuda without worry. Tch, I hope he vanishes there!

"Ugh, you vagabond. Never blame others when it is _you_ who are at fault for not organizing _your_ time properly beforehand. And besides, cursing others like that is not befitting of someone with your responsibilities."

"TCH!" The boy's nerve snapped and he jabbed a hand into his small school bag, wildly rummaging for something. He yanked out a pink cellphone and held it up to his face so he can clearly snarl at it.

"I – freaking – hate you, Celestia."

The cellphone's front LED-screen blinked a small green color, matching with every word given by that lady-like voice.

"Haaa…Deep down, you're still a vagabond to the very core."

[******]

The sky was still blue, despite being long past school hours. It was now for the timely rush in the commercial district, cars piling up into endlessly long lanes. A regular afternoon out in Tokyo.

A single mother was riding in the left-driver's seat of a SUV – why left is because of the fact that it was made and shipped from America. She was just a normal single mother who had three children and was on her way to pick them up from afterschool club activities.

The single mother rested her cheek against her curled hand, which was propped up against the door's window-sill, utterly bored. Hoping to kill the time, she turned on the radio to listen to something—Wait, she remembered, the car radio was still broken. Sigh, the times where a man's help was necessary struck her harder than most people in life.

Wait a minute…did she hear some sort of scratchy-grinding sound? The mother thought it was from the radio – broken yes, but it could only sing static in pure dead-tone. No, that was not was making that noise.

A tremble from the car forced her to stop. Another pulse of movement moving the ground crawled up her spine and she sat straight in her seat. Slowly, ever so slowly, the trembling turned into shaking – soon into an obvious quake that rocked the whole jammed road.

Plus from the rear-view mirror, she saw something that she could never believe to happen in Tokyo, or in all Japan…

…A giant sandstorm was coming up from behind, swallowing everything in its path.


	2. PART 2

**Inspired by the **_**'Sailor Moon'**_** anime series.**

* * *

**MAGICAL BOY  
****「魔法少年」**

**{=TSUBASA=VS=Turtle=}**

_{By: Emerald Sonata}_

* * *

**[~PART 2~]**

The high school boy, Tsukasa Basara, and the talking pink cellphone, Celestia, continued to walk down the street roads together. His faced was buried deep within the thick open book that was in his hands, all the being berated by Celestia while she was sitting in his chest pocket.

"Haaaa…Please give it a rest, Tsukasa. No matter how much you wish for it to happen, there is no way you can absorb all that information in a single day. Even if you were to do one of those so-called 'all-nighters', it's pointless if you lack the mental stamina to properly take on the exam itself."

"Seriously! Isn't there a mute button on you or something?! I'm the boss of my own life, alright! I'm free to do whatever I want with it! If I'm going to study my brains off, just to up my chances in passing the course – I'm gonna do it!"

"You really are a complete mystery, aren't you vagabond? You seem to study like any normal student, even more than average I will admit, but your results always come up as being a fruitless pursuit. Why don't you put some of that effort into fighting the real threat – the Bakemonos?"

Bakemono, living creatures that were beyond the realm of nature and reality. They were unstoppable as well as unpredictable, appearing at a moment's notice when you least expected it. Their one aim in life is simple: wipe out all human beings.

And somehow, Tsukasa was stuck fighting them – rather, he was forced against his bitter will.

Scowling, he grabbed out the pink cellphone and began to reel back for a nice long throw.

"I need your help with this question, Celestia: how far can a small cellphone fly when a force greater than itself were to throw it like an Olympic javelin shooter?"

"You – wouldn't – dare!—AH!"

_***BRRRRRRRRRRR~RRRRRRRRRRRRR~!***_

"H-huh?!"

At the T-shaped intersection the two were at, a sea of cars came surging down a large road. They came rolling in like wild waves at a stormy beach, crushing and grinding each other into mangled bits and pieces before ultimately slammed into one end of the intersection with a mighty screech.

It was if a flood struck everything without mercy…but it was no flood.

"_GIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII~IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!"_

A massive being ploughed through the pile of cars with large arms – as if a walking bulldozer. Its entire body was covered in thick green skin, clad with a giant tortoise shell around the body and two smaller ones clipped to its arms like makeshift boxing gloves. Its head also resembled that of a turtle, save for its all-yellow eyes and hanging jaw that does not move when it talks.

It was a mutated crossbreed, between a regular turtle and a regular body-builder – becoming one devastating entity.

"BAKEMONO!" Celestia cried.

"…" Tsukasa could only flinch.

"_GIIIIIIIIIIIIII~IIIIIIIIIIIIIII! Tons of damage – tons of damage – tons of damage!"_

In a flash, the turtle beast raced off – literally. Screeching at high speeds, it charged through a thick wall of cars, buses, and vans, crushing them all through its wake with its shelled-arms. It was more like a rhino than a walking turtle.

The turtle beast did not even bat a second glance when it bashed aside a police cruiser or two that belonged to the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, sending the officers scattering.

"Confirmed! It's a beast-class, tortoise type! Target's primary focus is hard defense. Tsukasa! You need to transform into Magical Girl Celestial and—GET BACK AND FIGHT THAT BAKEMONO, COWARD!"

Ignoring whatever Celestia was saying, Tsukasa was making a break for it.

"SCREW THAT! We're going to leave this for the Japan Self-Defense Force to handle – I'm just a regular high schooler who can't do squat in a situation like this!"

"What about the civilians? They're innocent in all this! Both adults and children alike!"

"Well, if they don't get the hint to run the heck away from a monster like that – it's their problem! I said it before, and I'll say it another thousand times: if I can't take care of myself, how in the world can I help others! And I definitely do **NOT** want to turn into _that_ hideous alter ego to fight the creep!"

"…I see…I understand…Then, I guess there is no need to save the science text book you somehow left behind."

"That is freaking corre—HAH?!" Tsukasa skidded into a burn-rubber halt and whipped around. At the edge of the growing chaos, laid his science text-book the size of a phonebook – his one and only copy (and it does not come cheap). "…AAAAAAAAAAA~AAAAAAAAAAAH!"

The high school boy exploded off at breakneck speed, taking a huge dive for his text book. His fingers could almost touch the large spine of the book, and once it was in his hands everything's safe—

Until a Volkswagen Beetle came crashing down nose-first in front of him, taking the innocent text-book with it before he could even touch it.

"…" The high school boy blankly stared at the cruel reality in front of him. He could see a clip of paper tucked under the car's nose, a speck of what was left about the definition on heat conduction. After a short pause, the Volkswagen Beetle fell away and back onto its creaking wheels.

Unaware of what happened, the turtle beast was enjoying itself with squishing steel-framed cars and kicking over street-lights – like a little boy on Christmas day (to an extent).

"_GIIIIIIII-HII-HII! Breaking stuff is just too fun!_ _I want more things to break! Things that go 'boom' and 'krrrrrrkkkk'! Hah-hah-hah! Tons of dam—"_

_***BAM!*— *BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP~!"**_

"_Hrm?"_ The turtle beast perked its head up to the sound of a certain stomp on metal, followed by the triggering of a rampant car alarm. It turned around to a particular Volkswagen Beetle that was behind the creature, which had a certain high school boy grinding an angry foot across the dented front. Black hair covered the boy's eyes, so it was not possible to see what was wrong…but there was definitely something bubbling inside of him.

"…Give it back…"

The turtle beast tilted its head in confusion.

"I SAID GIVE ME BACK MY SCIENCE TEXT-BOOK, YOU BIG FREAKING-UGLY KOOPA TROOPA! ERYAAAAAAAAAAA~AAAAAAAAAAAAAA~AAAAAAAH!"

Tsukasa ran, scrambling across and over the entire Volkswagen Beetle with a mighty cry. Jumping off the car's roof, he twisted around to slash a head-snapping spinning kick straight at the turtle beast's cranium.

_***SNAP!***_

"…Guh!" The blow connected – Tsukasa's shin hitting the turtle beast's shelled arm, who casually held it up to block him. An audible snapping sound could be heard from the boy's leg.

"…D…darn it all~!" Crouched by a curb, the high school boy gripped tightly at his burning shin while fighting back unmanly tears.

"…Beginning transformation sequence," Celestia sighed.

Tsukasa paled, even more than the pain in his leg.

"G-GUH! N-No! No transformation sequence—AH! S-STOP GLOWING THAT GREEN LIGHT! STOP IT! I REFUSE! OBJECTION! ANYTHING! JUST STOP—NOOOOOOOOOO~OOOOOOOOOOOO~OOOOOOOOOO!"

The pink cellphone snapped open, unleashing a green vortex that swallowed the panicking high school boy whole. Showers of sparkling glitter and green energy filled the air and so much as reaching for the sky. In the throng, Celestia's clear and prideful voice could be heard.

"_**Universal Make-up! Activation!"**_

The vortex slashed itself apart, revealing an entirely new being.

It was a hero, a hero clad in a magical pink dress with white frills, a ruffled skirt, white thigh-high stockings, and pink shoes with ribbons on them. A large bow-tie of silk was connected to the back of the dress, reminiscent to a giant and elegant butterfly with long wing-tails. Crowned on the head was a pink and white-laced new-style maid's bonnet.

The hero…was a certain high school boy wearing a magical girl costume.

Celestia also changed her form, metamorphing into a trust magical stick with a heart-ring scepter-head and carried an oval-shaped green gemstone in its core. She completed the whole transformation with:

"Magical Girl Celestial, has arri—BPPHHHHH?!"

…And received a punch to her 'face' in the end – courtesy of the magical girl clad Tsukasa.

"V-VAGABOND! How dare you strike a lady like that, you vile, vile, _**vile**_ brute!"

"#1: I hate your guts. #2: I need to relief my pain in losing a good comrade of a text book. #3…Screw it, let's get this thing – OVER WITH!"

"_Huh?"_ The turtle beast jumped and instinctively brought up an arm – catching a high-powered fist covered in an elegant white glove dead across the center of its shelled-hand.

The Bakemono was sent skidding backwards on its feet, ripping open the asphalt like a surgical knife on skin. It came to a smoking halt, never dropping its guarding arms.

Tsukasa panted like a mad man, his fist still hanging in the air.

"…Screw…you…"

"Tsukasa! Your hand!"

"Tch!" The boy in magical girl clothing retracted his fist – which was shaking violently. The knuckle area of his glove was ripped open, exposing fresh blood and his torn skin. Despite the enhanced power of a magical girl, the turtle beast's defenses were miles ahead of him.

That was why the Bakemono was laughing as it slowly lowered its arms, revealing its grinning hanging jaw.

"_Gi-gi-gi-gi-gi-gii…So you must be the one who goes about destroying my comrades from dealing tons-of-damage fun – gecko."_

Tsukasa and Celestia raised an eyebrow, _"…Gecko?"_

A giant turtle ending his sentences with 'gecko'…what a concept.

"I'm going to have tons-of-damage fun with you, girly."

The boy in the magical girl uniform visibly flinched.

"…Oi, Celestia…Give me something to kill this douchebag with."

"Roger! _Magical Sword – Materialize!_"

The magical stick began to change. Rings of sparkling green light floated around the magical stick's body, digital particles beginning to gather together. With a short mechanical and gear-like transformation, the magical stick became a pink-colored magical longsword with a white edge.

The wielder scowled, however. "…Bigger…"

"Ugh, how picky of you. Very well – Hup!"

The blade of the weapon was blown up two times bigger than its original size – instantly becoming more of a thick-bladed greatsword. The wielder's frown stayed, but it loosened up a little with an eager air.

"Much better—ERYAAAAAAAAAAAA~AAAAAAAAAAAAA~AAAAAAAH!"

The boy in the magical girl uniform charged head on with a roar, dragging the tip of his massive sword through the ground to burn up a trail of fire in its wake. He stomped a foot to the earth as an anchor, cracking the concrete, and used his entire weight to swing the weapon about at its sole target: the turtle beast.

_***CLO~NG!***_

"TCH!" Tsukasa clicked his tongue hard. His magical greatsword struck its target's chest, but much to the boy's chagrin it was encased in an even harder shell-casing. Like smacking a metal pipe against the wall, the recoil came back at him with equal force. But he did not stop there. "HAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

The boy swung the sword, Celestia, in a different direction, to try and break though the Bakemono's guard. Once again, it was parried by either its shelled-arm or the shell on its back. The Bakemono was really enjoying himself as it laughed at the boy's folly of an attempt

"_Gi-gi-gi-gi-gi-gi! You're good, better than I thought! It seems you can deal tons of damage too! What's you're name girly?! – Gecko_._"_

The Bakemono brought up his shelled-arms in a cross, stopping a certain greatsword from slicing its head up in two equal halves.

"…I'm neither 'girly' nor that stupid-as-heck of a name 'Magical Girl Celestial'. So listen up because I'm only going to say it once…I am…**TSUBASA**!"

The blade-lock snapped apart, raining sparks and firing a deadly pulse through the air. Tsukasa, recognized as TSUBASA in his magical girl form, was sent skidding back across the ground and away from the Bakemono. He jabbed his sword into the ground, using it as leverage to stop himself. He then pulled out his mighty weapon and held it at the ready…but his one and only plan of 'beating the green douchebag senseless' was going down the drain.

"Darn it all! Is there no weak-point to this creep?! Seriously, what does it have to take for anyone to smash through armor like that?!"

"Focus, Tsukasa! Always know that everything as a weak point – for example, you to studying and school grades."

"DON'T USE ME AS AN EXAMPLE YOU IDIOT OF A WITCH!"

…_***BRRRRRRRRRR~RRRRRRRRRRRRRR~!***_

"Huh?"

"Tsukasa! That blue car over there!"

TSUBASA and Celestia turned their attention to a certain SUV nearby. The front part of the vehicle was twisted in, wrinkled like a crushed can, and it adopted an awkward forward tilt across the broken roads. The driver looked like a young woman (a single mother) and she began to pull herself together from the recent crash.

What happened, she thought? A moment ago she could see the unnatural sandstorm racing after her and now this…Uh-oh.

"_Gii-gii-giii. I can see you – gecko."_

The single woman was fully awake now, staring at the turtle beast that was crouched in front of her tipped car. Instinctively, she yanked at the gear-stick to put it into the reverse slot and slammed on the gas pedal.

_***RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR~!***_

A miracle. The engine was still functioning despite the punishment it had received. Even the back wheels spun at their top speed…but she was not moving at all. That miracle was instantly shot down when she realized the back wheels were lifted off the ground, due to the SUV's twisted form. They were running on pure air, rendered completely useless. Escaping like this was impossible.

Just as the single mother thought about jumping out of the trapped wreck…she saw the Bakemono swinging its shelled-arm down on her. At that moment, she recalled the image of her three dear children…and felt that her time spent with them was suddenly cut short.

_***KLAAAAAAA~AAAAAAANG~!***_

The sound of crashing metal rung into the sky…

…And the single mother could not help but peek open an eye – before widening them entirely.

"DARN IT AAAAAAAAA~AAAAAAAALL!"

TSUBASA stood on the hood of the broken SUV, struggling to keep up his sword that held back a shelled-arm from laying further destruction.

Regaining her lost strength, the single mother immediately took her chance to get out of her car and escape – thanking her lucky stars that such a hero was there when she need one the most.

"G-Guuuh! I'm almost at my limit, Tsukasa!" cried Celestia, her body used as a barricade against the monstrous force.

"Bite the bullet! I'm having just as much trouble in pushing this creep back like this!"

"Ugh! Even in a time like this, you still won't cease to be an unruly vagabond!"

"JUST SHUT UP AND—"

Cracks appeared across the asphalt, around the two forces and the SUV. The ground sunk by an inch…then it instantly collapsed into a deep and pitch black hole.

In the center of the empty circle of air was: the SUV, TSUBASA, and Celestia (sword).

"Ah…UWAAAAAAAA~AAAAAAAAAAA~AAAAAAAAAAAAA~AAAAAAAAH!"

For once, TSUBASA and Celestia acted together as a team – screaming their lungs off as they fell in unison.


	3. PART 3

**Inspired by the **_**'Sailor Moon'**_** anime series.**

* * *

**MAGICAL BOY  
****「魔法少年」**

**{=TSUBASA=VS=Turtle=}**

_{By: Emerald Sonata}_

* * *

**[~PART 3~]**

…_***tsukasa*…*Tsukasa*…*Tsukasa*—**_

"—TSUKASA! WAKE UP!"

"BAAAH!"

Tsukasa Basara snapped awake and bolted sitting up. Sweat covered his forehead and his eyes were wide open with panic. Eventually, he let out a long sigh.

"…Good God, what a nightmare. For a moment, I thought you actually turned me into a magical girl again and I had to fight this ugly turtle thing that kept yapping about 'geckos'…Ugh, like worrying about the science test next week wasn't bad enough…"

"…I really hate to break it to you, Tsukasa, but that was no dream – furthermore, your test has been moved to tomorrow, remember?"

"…Huh?" Tsukasa _finally_ woke up, to the cold hard reality that was sitting in front of him.

The boy was not in his familiar bedroom – rather sitting on a cold hard floor in the middle of a dark room. The memory of his new test date popped up into his mind, causing his brain to go on the fritz of misfortune. And the worst part: he was wearing his magical girl uniform. He was still TSUBASA.

"…,…,…DARN IT AAAAAAAAAAAA~AAAAAAAAAAAAAA~AAAAAAAALL!"

The boy's scream filled the chambers, echoing back at him in a way that sounded like a sad chorus. He then snapped on a fiery look, his burning glare scanning for something all around him.

"CELESTIA! WHERE THE FREAKING HECK ARE YOU?!"

"Haaa…Right here…"

TSUBASA jabbed a hand into a certain pile of broken rock and rubble, drawing out Celestia completely. She had reverted back to her magical stick form due to the fall, the oval-shaped green gemstone within the center of the heart-ring blinking. A sarcastic tone could be heard.

"Why, thank you."

"Don't _'thank'_ me, you witch! This is your fault that we're in this mess, so you have to get us out of it!"

"I would very much like to do so myself, but I am incapable of defeating the Bakemono alone. That is why I'm counting on you to fight it while I provide my full support."

"Screw that! You're not counting on me – YOU'RE USING ME, YOU LITTLE…Where the heck are we anyways?"

"…Good question."

TSUBASA and Celestia stopped with what they were doing and looked around. The dark chamber they were in was poorly lit, but they could see they were surrounded by something tall and cylindrical. They looked like metallic tanks of some sort – what was inside them, they had no clue.

Ignoring it, TSUBASA picked himself up to his feet, resting a hand on one of those tanks.

"Tch. Lost or not, we got to get moving or that gecko-thing's going to find us and…Hmm?...Ah…HOT-HOT-HOT-HOT-HOT-HOT-HOT-HOOOOOOO~OOOOOOT!"

"TSU-TSUKASA?!"

The boy suddenly began to hop and scream about, flapping a hand that was throbbing-red and covered with smoke.

What he touched was actually a tank full of water – _hot_ water. A boiler.

The room the duo had fallen into was actually some sort of boiler room, part of an overall water-heating system located underground. It was all connected together to regulate intake and outtake of both hot and cold water, as well as venting out excess steam in the process.

"DARN IT ALL – DARN IT ALL! _DARN – IT – ALL!_ Gaaaaaah! Why isn't there someone randomly popping out of nowhere to challenge me with an ice bucket when you need it?!"

"This isn't the time to be making jokes, Tsukasa! Focus!"

"Tch! Seriously, weren't you designed with a mute button or something? Tell me where it is, or else—OW!"

The boy knocked his foot into a pile of heavy scrap metal in his hopping. Now, not only was his hand scalded, his foot had gone numb. With a stamp of his good foot, he cursed at all the bad luck that could happen to him in a single day.

That was when he suddenly stopped…and stood perfectly straight, ignoring the pain that attacked his body.

Slowly, ever so slowly, a thin dark smile crossed the boy's lips.

"…Tsukasa…why are you smiling like a lecherous old man?"

"Let's just say I have a good idea…"

_***BOOOOOOOOOM!***_

An explosion rung out behind the boy, but TSUBASA never moved, not even an inch. He even ignored the flood of dust-filled clouds that swept past him from behind, letting his clothing flutter in its wake.

"_Giii-giii-giii-giii…Found you, girly!"_

The turtle beast rose out of the thick smoke. It had just dropped through several holes that lead all the way down to the underground boiler chamber, from the very surface. It rose to its full height, smashing its shell-covered fists together with a satisfying CLANG-noise.

"_Time to have tons-of-damage fun! There's going to be nothing left of you when this is all over – gecko!"_

"…Heh-heh-heh…Sure. Whatever you say…Lizard breath—_**Celestia!**_"

"Roger! _Magical Scattershot – Materialize!_"

TSUBASA spun about, drawing up his magical stick. At the same time, Celestia began to metamorph. Green digitalized particles appeared and compressed themselves together, forging mechanical pieces that automatically docked onto Celestia's body. In a purging flash, she transformed from a magical stick – to a magical shotgun.

The boy took aim at the end of his spin, directly at the turtle beast's face, and—

_***BANG!***_

The Bakemono blocked the point-black attack, crossing its shelled-arms up in front of its face. It peeked under its guard at his attacker, spotting that certain boy in a magical girl uniform holding onto a smoking gun – smiling casually.

"Play time – IS ON!"

"_GIIIIIIIIIIIII – GECKO!"_

The two forces clashed head on – Bakemono VS magical girl/boy, kicking up a mighty storm. The turtle beast threw a fist at its enemy, but its target suddenly disappeared and destroyed only the ground with a FOOM-noise. TSUBASA fell down from his leap, spinning his baton-like magical shotgun around before firing point-blank again with a BANG – only to miss when the Bakemono tilted its neck with a haughty croak.

Their fighting grew more and more serious, turning from a dance-like sparring session to a whirlwind of destruction. The tankers took the brunt of their fleeting wake, earning dents and scattershot fragments into their faces. Nothing was left unscathed.

"BRING IT~!"

_***BANG!* – *BANG!* – *BANG!* – *BANG!* – *BANG!* **_

"GECKO~!

_***FOOM!* – *FOOM!* – *FOOM!* – *FOOM!* – *FOOM!***_

The battle between the two finally ended up in the main room of the boiler chamber, consisting of several more regular tankers and one giant iron vat in the center with many connecting pipes.

TSUBASA was sent skidding backwards across the ground, at the same time he fired off another round from his magical shotgun. Much to his chagrin, his shot zipped past the incoming turtle beast…strangely by half a meter. He had no choice but to block the shelled-fist with his weapon, but—

_***DOOOOOSH!***_

—The impact itself was devastating.

"GUUUUU~OOOOOOOO~OOOOOOH!" TSUBASA was sent flying from the immense force. His body tumbled across the ground in a violent roll, before his back was slammed deep into the side of the iron vat.

"TSUKASA!"

The boy laid still to Celestia's cry, but he soon responded with a choked cough. The turtle beast clapped its shelled-fists together in glee, and slowly made its way to finish off TSUBASA.

"_Giii-giii-giii. Fun! Thanks for the tons-of-damage fight, girly!"_

"…Who died and made you a winner, shell-brain?"

"E-eh?" The turtle beast staggered at those words, as well as what happened next.

TSUBASA pulled himself standing, his legs and arms shaking from the damage he took. Still he was in one piece…and the smile he had on the entire time just grew wider.

The Bakemono could not help a gulp, _"…Why are you smiling like a perverted old person – gecko?" _

The boy in the magical girl uniform let out a slow and eerie laugh.

"Hu-hu-hu…The more enjoyable to see you lose, my dear…"

TSUBASA slammed the side of his fist into the iron vat.

Then…it happened—

_***QUIIIIIIIIIIIII~IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII~IIIIIIIIIIIIII~!"**_

"_H-huh?!"_ The Bakemono began to cower away from the huge column of steam that suddenly burst out from the iron vat. Like rays of light burning through a shattering clay piece, more and more fans of steam shot through its cracks and popping bolts.

Soon, all the other smaller boiler tanks followed in chorus – spitting steam out from their fist-punched and scattershot-ripped holes. Less than a second, the entire boiler room was filled with smoking steam and the temperature rivaled to that of a sauna – soon overshooting that record as well.

"_Uuu-uuuuuuu…"_ Though the turtle beast was not at all human, it was no stranger to sweating and it did it profusely. Its entire skin was drenched in both steam and its sweat, and the Bakemono did not feel comfortable about the heat. _"H-hooooot…gecko…"_

Even Celestia was complaining, "My goodness, this heat is absolutely unbearable! Not only am I covered in my own sweat, I'm beginning to smell terrible too! It's just disgusting – ugh! And you call this a good idea?"

An equally sweat-drenched TSUBASA nodded, "A perfectly good one." As if to emphasize, he pumped the magical shotgun and shot off into the air.

…_***BRRRRRRRRRRRRR~RRRRRRRRRRRRRR!***_

A single alarm went off in the midst of the heat-filled room. It was soon followed by an instant downpour of rain – in the middle of an underground chamber.

The sprinklers. After one certain sprinkler head had been shot off, the rest automatically triggered and began spewing water down. Such a thing was strange, as there was not even a speck of fire in sight.

Not getting what was going on, the turtle beast's hanging jaw curled into a grin.

"_Giii-giii-giii…Nice trick, girly. But it ends here. Now, I'm going to give you tons of dam—"_

_***KRRK!***_

"Hmm?" When the Bakemono pulled back a shelled-fist, it heard something crack. It sounded as if a sheet of hard metal had broken in two pieces.

"Ah."

Neither Bakemono nor TSUBASA had uttered a sound. It was Celestia who gave a small gasp of surprise.

The Bakemono somehow looked at its reared back arm – its eye popping wide open.

A crack.

There was a visible crack across the turtle beast's shell that covered its fist. More fracture lines appeared and the entire thing shattered into millions of pieces at the next second. Before the turtle beast could even gasp, the other shell on its second arm followed suit. It too broke apart as if it were cheap glass, falling to the ground as dying dust.

"…_Wh…why did my tons-of-damage shell break – gecko?"_

"Thermal conduction…When you add a heat source to a piece of metal, it will absorb the heat as energy and eventually become hot itself."

Tsukasa's let out a low laugh, an eerily calm tone leaking from his voice.

"There's a certain phenomenon to this theory as well. If you expose an extremely heated metal to an extremely cold energy, its molecular structure will receive a major overload due to the altering states and will cause it to break down…Heh, if only the science test had that as the one and only question, I am so going to ace that test hands-down…Now, time to get the bonus mark…"

The Bakemono had no clue what the boy meant, but it was rather simple really.

At first, the turtle beast and its shells were exposed to the _hot_ steam. Now, it was constantly sprayed with _cold_ sprinkler water. When you add the two components together, the results were as clear as day.

And everything was planned from the very beginning, by the one and only TSUBASA.

"…Celestia…Drill…"

"_Magical Spiral – Materialize!__"_

The magical shotgun metamorphed. In a flash of light, it instantly expanded into a giant hand-held magical drill that covered its wielder's entire arm. The Bakemono sweat-dropped.

"...Finishing Move…"

"…_W-W-W-WAIT! I HAVE NOTHING TO STOP YOUR TONS-OF-DAMAGE ATTACK – GECKO! THIS ISN'T FAIR – GECKO!"_

"…So is life..."

A burning neon-red magic circle popped open under TSUBASA, augmenting his power to an all new height. Taking it as a cue, the Bakemono ran for its life screaming – the shell on its back slowly crumbling away like a melting ice sculpture. Still, TSUBASA smiled even wider until it showed his fang-like teeth – a truly sadistic grin.

"_**Scarlet Diver—"**_

The magical drill spun alive, flaring up a blazing magenta fire around its entire body like a divine torch. Step by step, TSUBASA moved forward after the fleeing Bakemono – soon, diving into a straight smoke-kicking dash.

"—_**Iron Force – BUSTEEEEEEE~EEEEEEEER~!"**_

TSUBASA and the magical drill shot off like a rocket, zipping across the ground like a heavenly magenta-burning arrow.

The turtle beast struck a dead end, a pile of rubble that blocked off the only exit (ironically caused by itself earlier). The Bakemono turned around to find another escape—

_***FOOOOOSH!***_

—And the blazing arrow of magenta fire pierced right through its stomach, shooting out of its back to smash apart the dead-end into clouds of dust.

"_Ge…cko_…"

After its last words, the falling Bakemono with the huge hole in its body disappeared into a fading mist before it could even hit the floor. Several pieces of its turtle shell bounced across the dirt, like a pebble across a lake, but they too disappeared into vanishing smoke.

[******]

"Everyone! Please stay behind the cordon or you'll put yourself into harm's way!"

A young policewoman of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department ushered back a group of onlookers and reporters, who were all bunching up too close to the police tape that was set up before-hand. The crowd complained at first, wanting to see what was going on to feed their curiosity, but nonetheless they complied with her demands.

The policewoman gave a sad frown to herself when they were far enough away. Like those curious people, she too wanted to see what was going on with the scene of the crime.

The police had received various emergency calls, being told that a mad bodybuilder in a giant turtle costume was wreaking havoc on traffic and civilians. More reports said that there was some pretty fighter girl in a pink maid outfit (or whatever) who appeared out of nowhere and battled with that rampaging culprit. No matter how you look at it, though, this all sounded like it came from an old anime or manga that the policewoman had seen before when she was a child.

However, upon arriving at the heart of that site…she and her colleagues could not believe the amount of detailed destruction that covered the whole city block. Faces of stores and buildings were blown open; cars were piled up into a crumbled heap; and everything else on the street was practically defaced. Could the reports have been true? It was difficult to say at this time. What's worse, the policewoman's was a simple patrol officer – she has no part in the entire investigation other than to keep unwanted people out of the taped sites.

"Sigh…I should've listened to father and inherit the family ramen shop…"

_***Kung*. *Kung* – *Kung*— *BONG!***_

"HEH?!"

The lid of a nearby manhole popped off and cluttered loudly across the asphalt, frightening the policewoman. Shockingly, a certain high school boy poked his head out and began to pull himself out of the very manhole. He wore a simple white dress shirt and sand-colored pants – nothing entirely out of place from him (so to say). In one hand was a pink cellphone which quietly sat in his clenched grip.

The only thing to note was how drenched he was. His entire uniform and hair matted tightly against his body – as if a heavy rain struck him and he was unlucky to bring an umbrella. It looked uncomfortable, but it seemed that the boy was too exhausted to even care about that detail.

"Stupid gecko. Thanks to that creep, not only did I lose precious time in preparing for tomorrow's exam, I'm gonna catch a cold because of…of…ACHOO!...Darn it all."

Tsukasa Basara let out a groan as he patted his sore arms and legs. He took a moment to take up his bag, flipping it upside down to let a bucket-full of water fall out from it. With a tired huff, he slung his bag over his shoulder and just walked past the dumbfounded policewoman – all the while grumbling to himself.

"…H-h-Halt!"

"Hah?" Tsukasa finally noticed the policewoman's shaky command and turned to face her. She tried to put on the best brave face she could muster – but it was undeniable that she was both super anxious as well as shaking all over, "…Can I help you, madam officer?"

"Wh-wh-why did you come out of the man-hole like that?! C-could you be involved in the recent traffic incident and you are currently on the run from the police?! I-if so, d-d-don't move and put your hands up!"

Tsukasa blinked at the quivering policewoman, a flat expression on his face. He straightened his body with a serious aura, took in a deep breath, and spoke the following confession in a heavy monotonous tone.

"This insane man in a green suit came out of nowhere and started attacking everything he could see. I tried to call the police, but he spotted me and I ran away as he gave chase. We both ended up trapped into the sewers – how exactly we got there, I forgot the details – and he was going to skin me alive. An unknown person with special powers suddenly appeared and beat the living daylights out of him. Thanks to that helpful stranger, I was able to escape via that manhole and return to the surface. In short: I am one of the victims of this incident, not the culprit."

To emphasize his 'innocence', the boy added a 'V' sign with his hand.

There was a notable pause between the high school boy and the policewoman…with the latter believing in every single word.

"Oh, I see! Th-then do you mind cooperating with us and stay for a while, so that one of the other officers can record your testimony on this case?"

"Sure. As long as you let me study for my exam tomorrow, I don't care—In other words, _'yes, I'll cooperate'_ if you were wondering, due to that confused look you're giving me."

Still a little flustered by what happened, the policewoman nodded back a thanks to Tsukasa and trotted off to return to her duties. When out of earshot from anyone, the pink cellphone in Tsukasa's hand began to blink.

"Lying to such a pure-hearted maiden like that is an absolute sin, you know."

"First of all – bite me. Second – that was not lying; that was twisting the truth to my utmost advantage. And C…I wouldn't exactly call her pure-hearted; more like naïve."

Tsukasa let out a great big groan, from the ordeal he had experience up to now. He trudged over to the side of the road and plopped sitting down on the curb. Exhausted, he hung his wet school bag on the knob of the fire hydrant that he was sitting next to.

Setting an equally soaked Celestia on the warm sidewalk, she continued with a casual air.

"I really hate to add salt to your already hideous injuries, but how exactly do you expect to prepare for your science exam tomorrow? Your text-book was destroyed in the chaos, has it not?"

"Tch. Ever heard of a back-up plan. I know my rotten luck when it comes to times like this, so I already prepared some study notes to use beforehand. I just prefer to read the text in full detail before I use my short-cut review."

"…If memory serves me right, I believe those notes were actually photocopied from one of the top students in your class, no?"

"…You really never give me a break do you, witch?"

With a snarl, the boy pulled out a certain notebook from his bag and—

"…AAAAAAAAAAAAA~AAAAAAAAAAA~AAAAAAAAAAH!"

In a flash, the policewoman from before came sprinting over at the horrendous scream.

"Wh-what happened?! Another attack! E-excuse me, sir! Ar-are you alright? Why are you lying on the floor like that? Are you injured? Is it a heat stroke?! Please say something!"

No matter what the policewoman did, it could not change the hard reality she was seeing right in front of her.

Tsukasa was lying flat on the ground, his body having lost all strength. His one arm shielded over his eyes, making it impossible to tell what was wrong with him. Sitting next to him was a wet pink cellphone…and right next to that was a pile of extremely soggy photocopied notes – whatever was printed on them faded away into illegible blotches.

"…I'm screwed."

A drop of water slipped off Celestia's body in an irritating manner.

"And it was all thanks to that _brilliant idea of yours_ from before…how ironic for you."

**{_FIGHT=END_}**


End file.
